Wave breaking is the key term that controls the evolution of waves on the ocean surface. We use a variety of platforms. One is a drifter. We deploy it from the ship and then let it go freely, untethered. It collects and stores data on board.

"The real advantage is being able to understand the spatial distribution of these things. So the drifters, you can see, are small. They make a measurement just at a point. And up on the mast of the drifter, we have a GoPro video camera and it's running in HD. With the GoPro we can see how big was the wave that just broke. How long was that crest that just broke? How long was there a breaking crest that has foam and has white water? How long was that there? And then we relate it to the turbulence we measure in the water. A big practical application of this is to understand how many waves and how much wave energy will end up at a coastline."

More About This Research

Surface Wave Instrumentation Float with Tracking — SWIFT

Waves are generated by wind blowing across the ocean and dissipated by breaking, either as whitecaps or surf. This research aims to understand the breaking process and the resulting turbulence, especially in wave fields that are a mix of wind waves and swell. Measurements from APL-UW SWIFT instruments quantify the turbulence and the wave motions. Additional video measurements quantify the size distribution of the breakers. Applications include improved wave forecasting and parameterization of gas exchange.